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tv   [untitled]    September 28, 2012 2:00pm-2:30pm PDT

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having a small workshop with a few resident artists who work on art during the day. it provides a certain energy. when that moves on to the employees were working there during the night, coming in contact with patrons, you have a great start and a good experience. great talent, visuals, who have done the other thing for the most part. lots of responses. >> thank you. dmitri, while enhancing your out dope -- outdoor event, how important is the creative contact to make sure it you have customers who return over and over again? >> our creative content, you know, it is pretty out there. [laughter] >> sort of spices up the meeting. >> for us, i think the most important thing we are offering
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is something quintessentially san francisco. something that they cannot find anywhere else. we have two fetish fares in san francisco. there are only three other cities in the world that do that. new york, toronto, and berlin. i have been to all three and they are not nearly the same size as well we produced, or nearly as diverse. what we are always thinking about is what we are offering people that is so quintessentially san francisco that we get -- it cannot be gotten anywhere else. we are also told the switching of the entertainment this year. we have dance areas where the slides used to be. i think that for us it is about making sure that people, even if they came to san francisco in particular five years ago, that
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they are not experiencing the fight -- the same thing. it speaks to one of the priorities. the never-ending city. or something. i do not remember, exactly, but it is the same basic concept. even if you come here several times over and over, you will not have the same experience. as we do that, enhancing certain things. live stages have big-name bands. headlining the folsom street fair, people are now looking forward to our entertainment in ways they did not 10 years ago. >> commander, how do we prepared to assist an outdoor event? what training do the folks on the street have when engaging with patrons of the event?
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>> i am sorry, i have never heard of little booth. not my genre, i guess. you know, all of our officers receive a lot of training at the academy level and the special operations group on crowd control. you all know the chief was year earlier. an outstanding job, he spoke to everyone, it all comes down to us all, all the way down to the online troops. i believe that we are the best in the entire country, if not the world. [applause] just recently, thank you, i had
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the deputy chief of shanghai coming over to ask us how we manage events here. i just wanted them to understand how we do it differently and how they can improve. this is not the first time i have had that happen. from what i have observed over my 32 years in my time on line as an officer, i was an officer before my first promotion, i have received, and we have all received, thanks to our outstanding training, if there is any need for some kind of tactical response, our team is the best in the country. >> thank you for reminding me that we are at the top for the new academy class, working with officer buckner -- right, gary? to talk about the new
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entertainment. this is what we do and how we do what we do. it is my vision to have some kind of special team in place in the department that focuses in understands my life. we are a little bit of a ways off, but that is what i would like to do. >> how can a new club owner in gauge so they know the rules and regulations and what is expected of them? >> essentially, we tend to reach out to club owners. there are 3600 licenses within 49 square miles. the director will tell you it is the largest in the state. so, for the inspectors assigned to that unit's, we tried to engage them to open up. i agree with the gentleman at
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the end. security is paramount. we feel that as the police department, we want you to please yourself. as the commander mentioned, we are well trained. we do not come out there as police officers. we are into education and training. we are not looking to enforce. we tried to instill the idea that the security plan is paramount, providing the framework by which an establishment protect itself from inappropriate behavior and criminal acts for a working relationship with the community and the police. there is that umbrella of security and personnel. we looked at the management to hire the appropriate personnel.
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hiring, training, and supervision. everything that you need. all of our problems come from the over service of alcohol. we ask for owners to train for over service. we also look for physical security measures, like scanning. additional parking and security of the exterior is important. we think that an ongoing plan management -- constantly as cds nightclub owners assessing management. it is readjusted when necessary. the bottom line is they have a great security plan and they will limit their liability. it is all about making money and defending yourself against liability. that is what we try to preach to club owners and management
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personnel. >> thank you. what are some of the barriers have experienced in planning an outdoor special event? how are they different from indoor special events? or maybe they are the same? >> my experience with the clubs, the club owners, and we do have a world-class club scene, these special events at opulent temple, we fund rates all year round to put on productions. but so, and we are a nonprofit
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collective. folks like me, who want to create and give to the community that centered around the burning an event. it is part of the fund-raising scheme. we were moderately successful before. we had scheduled another one for this past june, which we did produce and were successful with. it just experienced a lot of hurdles in that event that did not make sense to us. we wanted this to be 18 and over. we have been 21 andover. there was ample precedents for these events in the city. it was our personal belief that if you could fight or die for
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the country or vote in an election, you should be able to go to a party. [applause] the folks that we were working with at the police department were hesitant about that. to address their concerns we agreed to very stringent beer gardens, which we did not feel like needed, but we did it in order to produce the event. later, we found out it would not be an 18 and older event. it essentially became a non- negotiable item. if we wanted them to sign off on the permit, with a bar, which was a major revenue stream, we had to be 21 and over. being a promoter and organizer with a long history of doing these events without problems, with a curved track record, that
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seemed like a perfect result. the police requirement at the event looked like two cops, with no problems with nothing to do, there were five officers at the event now, which we had to pay overtime fees for. trying to discuss this with the officers, public safety is brought up and it is very important to me and to us. i mentioned that i had another life as a part-time psychologist and a father, illustrating that i did not want to do anything that was going to mess up my ability to bring in. i felt that this was key to the state -- sustainability of what i do.
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nonetheless, the increased police requirements were very costly to us. between those two decisions, restricting the age and increased police department presence, the concern was that it cost us a good $20,000. the event was great as far as production. the officers that came, one of them came to do a walk around with security before they ever entered the party. they sat outside all night long. i like partnering with asset p the. but when it does not make sense and it really hurts the revenue potential for nonprofit events, it just feels very unfair. [applause] >> thank you.
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i am going to ask some questions from the audience. jeff? >> there was a question that was asked -- what is being done to have this run later, 21 hours? i have seen numerous accidents as a nighttime commuter. i do not have a anyone frombart fart here. i did try. there had been an article on the examiner about a few of those. i reached out to the director. it was not a bad thing, necessarily. he was super interested. the most promising thing i have heard today is but we heard from supervisor wiener.
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in the sense that we need more, we need them in the city at 2:00 a.m.. from the entertainment commission side and a lot -- mayor's office, if i could grab his attention, this is a longstanding issue that is very important. >> of the next question is written in red ink, on pink paper. to the police, what is the official stand, or your opinion, on the expansion of last fall to 4:00 a.m. ? >> i will feel that one. it is not a case by case basis. we have to take into
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consideration, if you're going to have last call before 4:00 in the morning, the impact it will have on community and traffic, the impact it will have on the people outside the venue, it has been case by case. i know that just about every venue once and after hours permit. we are trying to allow those as much as we can. we have been permitting them. however, with the stipulation to come back in six months 12 months to reevaluate. we are trying to keep those down to two days, three days per month. i know that they can get to that. it is just a matter of the impact that will be had on the
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community as a whole. it is not something we have had ever. wax jeff, i am going to ask this. the cost of living in the city's going up. while san francisco still attracts many young lgbt people, being able to afford living here is getting harder and harder. i like generalize this question on my own, extending it to just about everyone. what can be done to keep this city attractive and affordable to the young and creative? a lot of people are coming here to have alternative lifestyles all over the map. they come here because the city is not necessarily their job. they will come here even without a job. they do not have a lot of money. as an operator, how do you
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answer this? >> it depends on what you're doing. headline talent is very expensive. you put your budget together and you see which can charge for a ticket. as i have the benefit of the venue over with promoters because i do not need to make money at the door, i can look at something and say -- i will be making this much, but i do not have to. i want to break even at the door. that lets me keep the ticket price down. frequently, and we put that out through facebook and a variety of social media outlets. people have the opportunity to get in for free. a if people want to work harder and get out earlier, tune in to calx, they can get in frequently
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for free. it is a limited amount of tickets, but if in the event starts at 9:30, most people in this town to not start going out until 11:30. at 9:30 it would be half the reason last. >> anyone else want to answer? >> i would echo the sentiment as far as young people coming to need options. even though it is not my main thing, the 18 to 21 crowd definitely has more limited options. i just hope that we as a night life industry can continue to keep them in mind. educate them to the proper behavior. i think that that is done with
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people who are in settings that are over 21 as well. >> i agree with you. i think that we penalize anyone over the age of 21 and get in trouble in the summer, when there is no school. they need a place to go to express themselves. the next question, for the police, with the success of aou, it is a central place where conditions are put on alcohol licenses. does the police department possibly see a central location for education permits? >> i leave that as long as we can centralize these activities and tasks, getting them to go through one formal is much better for all of us. it is much easier to get a handle on what is going on.
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aou, we are doing really well with that. we will look into that and have it going through direct. >> so, we used all of these out. does anyone else have a question? we have about five more minutes before we take a break. i know the you are tired. please, ask and be polite. robbie? [laughter] >> hello. this is a question for all the panelists. given that we now have an entertainment commission, according to the economic impact study, in the last three years to four years, we have lost the north beach jazz fest. power to the peace canceled for the second year in a row.
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and we lost the love fest. is outdoor entertainment, those sort of events, is there a crisis there that we are collectively ignoring? what can be done to fix it? thank you. [laughter] [applause] >> i will answer that. sure. i think that each event is as strong as the people behind it, quite frankly. what we can do, obviously, breaking out, we can do some that -- some best practices. some people have been adamant about wanting to work with other groups. some groups have not wanted to work with us. some groups are bigger than us. we might be stealing their intellectual property. we do not feel that way. we have openly shared the best
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practices. i think that having those tools is one part. having good people behind it is another. from year to year thinking through how of the event will sustain itself is important. frankly, i think that some of those events moved away because there were opportunities better than what san francisco was offering. we can talk to how -- talk about how to award events that are doing well. financially, etc. we should try to look at ways to reduce the costs. >> can i jump in? i did not mention that i was a deejay, because that is not newsworthy, but i am part of the team that puts that on. to clarify, we moved to oakland last year because we really did
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not feel welcome in san francisco. the hurdles put in front of us to do our event were so extensive, it became impossible to produce a successful the event. sadly, that happened again this year. hopefully we can come back next year. thanks for bringing a cup. it is a problem. the impact of the loss of these events is a loss for san francisco culture and our economy. it will take the right perspective of leadership from the mayor's office to make those events be able to happen. >> [unintelligible] [applause] >> i am very sorry that we lost some of these events. i'm sure they added to cultural diversity. i do know that looking at the
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board, there are 280 events in a given year. street fairs, hip-hop, promotional events. there is only so much that we can do. we have to make sure that every event has enough personnel to keep it safe. be it the security plan, officers, or police officers. that is one thing i failed to mention earlier. paramount to training for an event that has enough people to prevent anything disastrous from occurring, you never know what can be prevented, because you never know what you can stop from happening. you never know if people have enough resources to make sure they do not have a problem. >> down to the last few questions, we are running out of
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time. >> let's see how quick we can get to it. >> ok. >> we will be really fast. i commend the police department. for those of us in the entertainment industry, we have long suffered under this process. one is the allocation program. when will we have centralized 10b dissemination and when will there be an appeals process that when you make your application you are giving -- even your answer and then you have an opportunity for some type of discussion or appeal on the number. currently, that does not exist. it puts promoters in a position where you bring in a cashier's check for this amount or your liquor permit will be pulled. that is not the way we should be
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treating these. >> we do have a centralized program that just started up. it is under the leadership acting category. right now it is across from my office. i can see the dust coming in. we have identified them. that will happen within the next few weeks. the appeals process, i will be honest, i do not know if we have one, but it is a good idea. >> thank you. can i make a comment about the10 10b centralization? be careful what you wish for. let me explain one of the potential things that is bad that could come out of it. we have a particularly good relationship with one of the officers at southern station. i would like to make sure that
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she continues to be our go i.t. at the last event there was no violence, not even an ambulance. if you were an event of a certain size, you would have so many officers. not necessarily something centralized that treats individual officers as entirely interchangeable, because they are not. this is a lesbian officer that knows our community and works very well. i have never had a better relationship with asset pd, because of her. >> i promise you that if you make that request, it will be honored.
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is there anyone here from park in iraq? -- park and irrec bella >> they were invited. -- rec ? what they were invited. >> i went to a neighborhood meeting about hardly strictly bluegrass. the open of the meeting was that she had not get -- not got rid of all the issues in the park, but that she was trying. so. i wanted to put that out there. [applause] >> i just also wanted to say that they have a lot of buildings open to all ages.
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when i was a kid growing up in new york, and we used to -- there is a statement, saving my ass. [laughter] if there is a question i hope you do not look at it as a challenge. i think it is a feeling. there are quite a few events in the park. it is really about managing them and making sure that your outreach is good. i would like to work together, wherever you are. i want to thank our panelists. i hope that you will as well.